Bode Miller won the first gold medal of his Olympics career, taking the super-combined with plenty of flair - roaring back from seventh after the downhill with a blazing slalom run. Then, hours later, goaltender Ryan Miller made 42 saves to help the U.S. hockey team upset Canada 5-3 in one of its biggest wins since the famous Miracle on Ice in 1980.

The hockey win gave the Americans a perfect record in the preliminary round and assured them a berth in the quarterfinals. Bode Miller's victory bumped the U.S. medal count to seven gold and 24 overall to lead all countries.

One more medal and the Americans will match the 25 they won in 2006, their most at a Winter Olympics not held at home. Miller's performance at that Olympics was forgettable, when he partied away his status as the favorite going into the games.

Now, with a medal of each color after three races, Miller is one of the feel-good stories of the Vancouver Games.

"The level I skied at is at the very top," he said. "It feels amazing."

Across Vancouver, bars, restaurants and streets were packed Sunday, mainly because of the U.S.-Canada hockey game the host country was anticipating for years. With a trio of rivalry games at Canada Hockey Place, and six gold medals handed out elsewhere, the day was dubbed "Super Sunday."

However, it got off to a sad start with Joannie Rochette - Canada's best hope for a medal in women's figure skating - learning that her 55-year-old mother died of a massive heart attack.

Rochette wiped her eyes and took a deep breath before stepping onto the ice for afternoon practice, then blinked hard during her first few laps around the rink. She'll remain in the event, which starts Tuesday, "to fulfill the goal they had together," said Rochette's agent, David Baden.

In other events decided Sunday, Germany's Magdalena Neuner won her second gold medal of these games in biathlon and Switzerland's Michael Schmid won the Olympics debut of men's skicross, a cousin to the NASCAR-on-ice snowboarding race featuring four racers charging through a winding course filled with jumps.

Andre Lange of Germany won the two-man bobsled, and speedskater Ireen Wust of the Netherlands took the women's 1,500 meters.

► SKICROSS: For an unpredictable sport, the first men's winner wasn't much of a surprise. Switzerland's Michael Schmid was the top-ranked World Cup rider this season.

But the final did have one of its trademark wipeouts, with Canada's Chris Del Bosco, winner of the Winter X Games last month, going down hard on the next-to-last jump.

Americans Casey Puckett and Daron Rahlves were eliminated in the first round of the four-man heats.

► SPEEDSKATING: Wust stunned the home team by winning a gold medal in the 1,500. Canada's Christine Nesbitt, who took gold in the 1,000, had hoped to add another Olympic win. She was slightly ahead of Wust's pace heading into the final lap but couldn't match the last trip around the oval produced by the Dutch skater.

Wust won in 1 minute, 56.89 seconds. Canada did manage a silver, claimed by Kristina Groves in 1:57.14. Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic took the bronze (1:57.96). Nesbitt was sixth.

► BOBSLED: Germany's Lange rarely loses - and never in the Olympics. Bobsled's best driver won his fourth gold in four career races inside the winter rings, taking the two-man competition to become the winningest pilot in Olympic history.